Ben Jacobsen, Northern Iowa (354-233, four NCAA Tournament
appearances, one Sweet 16)
Fran McCaffery, Iowa (531-368, 12 NCAA Tournament
appearances)
Andy Enfield, SMU (261-175, six NCAA Tournament appearances,
one Sweet 16, one Elite 8)
Chris Holtmann, DePaul (251-171, seven NCAA Tournament
appearances, one Sweet 16)
Penny Hardaway, Memphis (133-62, two NCAA Tournament
appearances)
20. Steve Pikiell, Rutgers (329-297, three NCAA
Tournament appearances)
Rutgers had a down season this past year but did make or
would have made the postseason in each of the previous four seasons, which
includes three trips to the NCAA Tournament. Rutgers had not made the Big Dance
since 1991 prior to his arrival. Pikiell has turned around the program in a big
way. In 2021, he led the Scarlet Knights to their first NCAA Tournament win
since 1983 and nearly upset No. 2 seed Houston in the second round. He had
three below .500 seasons with Rutgers to start his career, but then it all came
together. Rutgers had only once made back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances
(1975-76) before making it to two straight seasons in 2021 and 2022. Before
going to New Jersey, he had a big turnaround at Stony Brook, winning just four
games in his first year to a program that reached the postseason in six of his
final seven seasons, culminating with an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2016.
19. Steve Alford, Nevada (683-357, 13 NCAA Tournament
appearances, four Sweet 16s)
Alford and Nevada had a fantastic season this past year, but
it ended with a dud, losing in its first game in the conference tournament and
then again in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The team has rebounded
after a few down years. He has made a huge difference for the Wolfpack. He has
had a successful stint at all of his mid-major or lower conference schools.
Alford led Southwest Missouri State to a Sweet 16 opponent, including a
30-point blowout of Tennessee in the second round. Prior to Nevada, he was
fired mid-season at UCLA, but he did guide the Bruins to three appearances in
the Sweet, including one in which he led them to 31 wins. That came after a
sensational run at New Mexico, where he compiled a record of 155-52. It would
be tough to make it at a school like Nevada, but I would not put it past him.
18. Mike Young, Virginia Tech (391-310, seven NCAA
Tournament appearances)
Mike Young will need a good season or two more to continue
to stay on this list because he is coming off back-to-back 19-15 seasons at
Virginia Tech, both seasons ending in the NIT. In his five seasons, the Hokies
have made the tournament twice. While his first season was the year cut short
due to COVID, Virginia Tech finished 16-16 and would not have made it even if
the tournament was held. He only once has finished better than seventh in the
ACC and has not made it past the first round of the tournament with the Hokies.
Prior to heading to Blacksburg, he helped lead Wofford to become a force as a
small school, as the Terriers were 30-5 his final season and pushed Kentucky
before falling in the second round in 2019. That was one of six 20-win seasons
at Wofford. But he will need some strong seasons coming up.
17. Danny Sprinkle, Washington (109-50, three NCAA
Tournament appearances)
It has been a meteoric rise for Danny Sprinkle. Just over a
year ago, Sprinkle was the head coach of his alma mater, Montana State, and was
fresh off back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Tournament. In April of 2023, he
was hired at Utah State, where he led the Aggies to the second round of the
tournament, defeating TCU in the first. After just one season in Logan, he was
hired at the University of Washington, a program that has only made one NCAA
Tournament since 2012 and has not made the Final Four since 1953. The Huskies
now head into the Big Ten (still weird for me to type) and aim to make noise in
a really difficult conference, as they are joined in heading to the conference
from the Pac 12 with USC, UCLA and Oregon.
16. Leonard Hamilton, Florida State (643-491, 11 NCAA
Tournament appearances, four Sweet 16s, one Elite 8)
After a few really strong seasons in which it looked like he
and his Seminoles were on the cusp of breaking through into the Final Four,
Leonard Hamilton and Florida State have had a few down seasons, going just
43-53 with no NCAA Tournament appearances in the last three years. Prior to
that, the Seminoles made it to the second weekend the previous three NCAA
Tournaments, excluding 2019-20. His head coaching career began in 1986 with
Oklahoma State, and he lasted four seasons with a 47 percent winning percentage.
He went to Miami for 10 years, turning around the program, making the NCAA
Tournament his final three seasons with the Hurricanes. In 2002-03, he went to
Tallahassee and turned things around once again. In 2018, he led them to their
first Elite 8 in 25 years. However, at 75, I wonder when he’ll decide to call
it quits.
15. Will Wade, McNeese (216-98, six NCAA Tournament
appearances, one Sweet 16)
Coming back into coaching, Will Wade found a good fit to
elevate himself into a top coach once again. In his first season with the
Cowboys, he led them to a 22-2 record (he was suspended for the first 10 games
and McNeese went 8-2) and were a trendy upset pick as a 12-seed against
Gonzaga. While that didn’t come to fruition, the Cowboys are in good hands,
especially since he is staying in Lake Charles for at least one more season. Prior
to his firing from LSU, he led the Tigers to 105 in not quite five full
seasons, including an SEC championship and Sweet 16 appearance in 2019. Between
McNeese and LSU, he would have led his teams to NCAA Tournament appearances in
each of his last five seasons, as the Tigers would have made it in during the
COVID season. He’ll be back in the power 5 soon.
14. Ed Cooley, Georgetown (343-245, seven NCAA Tournament
appearances, one Sweet 16)
Cooley made a surprising move by going from Providence to
Georgetown, trying to resurrect a complete train wreck left by NBA Hall of
Famer Patrick Ewing. The two conference victories in year one was as many as
the Hoyas had in the previous two seasons combined. Granted, their only two
wins came against a DePaul team that went 0-20 in league play by a combined
four points. In his first five tournament appearances, his team only advanced
past the first round once, but made it to the second weekend in 2022 and put a
scare into eventual national champion Kansas and actually had the lead with
under six minutes to play. I imagine Georgetown will not be a Big East bottom
feeder for long under Cooley.
13. Mark Pope, Kentucky (187-108, two NCAA Tournament
appearances)
Pope earned the job at his alma mater after a successful
stint at BYU, where he led the Cougars to five 20-win seasons, including 23
victories and an NCAA Tournament berth last year in the school’s first season
in the Big 12, the best conference in America. Pope takes over for John
Calipari, who left Lexington for the University of Arkansas. While Pope has had
strong success during his coaching career, he has not had postseason success as
of yet. During both seasons his teams made the Big Dance, his teams fell flat
and lost as the No. 6 seed to the No. 11 seed in the first round—UCLA in 2021
and Duquesne in 2024. He will aim to bring the Wildcats back to glory after not
having reached the second weekend since 2019. Included in that stretch are
losses to No. 14 Oakland (2024) and No. 15 St. Peter’s (2022). It will be
interesting to see how he fares at his alma mater. He definitely has a chance
to move up quickly (if not advancing to the Final Four and leave the list).
12. Greg Gard, Wisconsin (186-107, six NCAA Tournament
appearances, two Sweet 16s)
This will be an interesting season for Greg Gard and
Wisconsin. Gone are All-Big Ten First Team selection A.J. Storr and three-year
starting point guard Chucky Hepburn, as well as the consistent Tyler Wahl. They
brought in three transfers recently. Many think the Badgers will take a big
step back. For Gard, that is when he does his best coaching. Wisconsin
struggled down the stretch and lost in the first round in the NCAA Tournament
to James Madison. Still, from missing the tournament to earning a No. 5 is a
huge improvement. The Badgers have not
reached the second weekend since 2017, so that is why he is not higher. This is
a big year for him, especially with the expanded Big Ten.
11. Buzz Williams, Texas A&M (350-217, 10 NCAA
Tournament appearances, three Sweet 16s, one Elite 8)
After two seasons in which Buzz’s group recorded a record of
24-24, his Aggies have posted three consecutive seasons of at least 20 wins,
with the last two ending in the NCAA Tournament. However, neither of those
seasons reached past the first weekend. He came to A&M after a successful
stint at Virginia Tech. With the Hokies, he led them to the Sweet 16 for the
first time since 1966-67 and nearly knocked off Duke. Before Virginia Tech, he
averaged more than 23 wins per season with Marquette and made the Sweet 16
twice and an Elite 8. The former Mike McConathy assistant has Texas A&M
headed in the right direction and it would not shock me to see him lead the
Aggies to a great run that ends in a Final Four berth.
10. Randy Bennett, St. Mary’s (533-216, 10 NCAA
Tournament appearances, one Sweet 16)
Bennett has been a mainstay in college basketball for years
and has put together one of the most consistently good programs in the country.
He is coming off leading the Gaels to one of their best seasons ever, winning
26 games and the West Coast Conference regular season and tournament titles.
Unfortunately for him and St. Mary’s, it didn’t translate to NCAA Tournament success,
as the Gaels lost to Grand Canyon in the first round of the Big Dance. That has
been a theme for Bennett. With the exception of the COVID-shortened season, SMC
has won at least 20 games every year since 2007-08, including at least 25 wins
on 13 occasions in that time period. However, the Gaels have reached the Sweet
16 just once in that time—in 2009-10. He has been a remarkable regular season
coach, but will he be a coach who can’t win the big one or finally make a run and
make the trip to the Final Four after so many misses like Tony Bennett or Bo Ryan.
When Bennett arrived in 2001, he inherited a program that went 2-27, and has
turned it into one of top mid-major programs in the country. It will be
interesting to see if he can finally make that run.
9. Jamie Dixon, TCU (488-233, 14 NCAA Tournament
appearances, two Sweet 16s, one Elite 8)
Dixon has been a great coach for a number of years, from
Pittsburgh to TCU. After 328 wins at Pitt, he took his talents to his alma
mater and has not skipped a beat. He has won at least 20 games in each of the
last three seasons and has done that six out of eight years, brining relevance
to a program that was a dumpster fire before he got there. Making the
tournament the last three seasons, it is the first time the Horned Frogs have
done that in their history. He took over a dormant program after Trent Johnson
couldn’t win in his four years with the program. TCU only had one winning
season and was a combined 8-64 in conference play, never finishing higher than
ninth in the conference under Johnson. Prior to Dixon, TCU had not made either
the NCAA Tournament or NIT since 2005, and not made the Big Dance this
millennium. One thing he does need to do, though, is finish above .500 in the
Big 12, something he has not done quite yet.
8. Greg McDermott, Creighton (325-160, 12 NCAA Tournament
appearances, two Sweet 16s, one Elite 8)
McDermott has turned Creighton into a legitimate power in
the Big East, reaching 20 wins in all but one of his seasons in Omaha. In the
four seasons since the COVID year, he has led the Blue Jays to an Elite 8
appearance and two berths in the Sweet 16, including this past year. Oddly
enough, they were slated to get a high seed in the COVID year and tallied a
24-7 record, the best mark since his son Doug played for him in 2014. He took a
leap and coached Iowa State for five seasons, leading the Cyclones to a 59-68
record and before that, led Northern Iowa to three consecutive NCAA Tournament
appearances to round out his career in Cedar Falls. The future is bright for
McDermott and he will continue to be in the upper echelon of the Big East.
7. Jon Scheyer, Duke (54-18, two NCAA Tournament
appearances, one Elite 8)
While no one can fully replace Coach K, Jon Scheyer is not
only keeping the train on the tracks, but has kept Duke rolling along. He has
led his alma mater to back-to-back 27-9 seasons and is coming off a year where
he led the Blue Devils to a second-place finish in the ACC and trip to the
Elite 8. With that program, it really is just a matter of time before Scheyer
gets his program to the Final Four. It is inevitable. His recruiting has still
been top-notch. Under his tutelage, I expect Duke to be good for a while.
6. Brad Underwood, Illinois (252-115, eight NCAA
Tournament appearances, 1 Elite 8)
Underwood has had strong season after strong season with the
Illini, but this year, he finally had a bit of a breakthrough, advancing to the
Elite 8 after posting a dominant performance against Iowa State in the Sweet
16. Underwood’s Illinois squad finished only behind Purdue in the Big Ten
regular season standings but won the conference tournament. In the past five
years, his Illini have won 117 games and 70.5 percent. After an incredible run
at Stephen F. Austin in which he led the Lumberjacks to an 89-14 record and an
incredible 53-1 conference record, he led the Oklahoma State Cowboys to the
tournament in 2017. It feels like just a matter of time for Underwood to break
through, although I say it with a lot of the coaches on this list.
5. T.J. Otzelberger, Iowa State (169-98, five NCAA
Tournament appearances, two Sweet 16s)
Nobody has sky-rocketed up these charts in recent years than
Otzelberger. He led the Cyclones to a Big 12 Tournament title and No. 2 seed
this past year, and perhaps if he was in a different region, he would have had
Iowa State in the Final Four. He has won 70 games in his first three seasons in
Ames, including 29 this past year. Otzelberger has led ISU to the NCAA
Tournament in all three years with two appearances in the Sweet 16. I say this
quite a bit, but it just seems it is a matter of time before T.J. breaks
through with a Final Four berth.
4. Chris Mack, College of Charleston (278-133, eight NCAA
Tournament appearances, three Sweet 16s, one Elite 8)
Chris Mack has been all over the place recently. He was
fired from Louisville after a successful stint at Xavier before being hired by
the College of Charleston this offseason, as he tries to build on the success
from Pat Kelsey, who led the Cougars to the NCAA Tournament. Kelsey took a job
this offseason with, oddly enough, Louisville. His two best years at Xavier, in
2015-16 and 2017-18, were spoiled before the second weekend by Wisconsin and
Florida State, respectively. Despite his failure at Louisville, Mack is a heck
of a coach who will be back with a power program soon.
3. Tommy Lloyd, Arizona (88-20, three NCAA Tournament
appearances, two Sweet 16s)
The good news is that Lloyd has led the Wildcats to 88 wins
in 108 games in his first three seasons at the helm, including a pair of Sweet
16 berths. The bad news is that Arizona has lost to three lower seeded teams in
the NCAA Tournament, including an embarrassing loss to Princeton in the first
round in 2023. Still, the Wildcats have been a tremendous team since his
arrival and will continue to be a strong program. Arizona was in a bit of
turmoil when Sean Miller was fired. All Tommy Lloyd did was lead the Wildcats
to a conference regular season and tournament title and a No. 1 seed in the
NCAA Tournament and has won two regular season crowns in his three years. He
was looked at as a rising star in the coaching profession at Gonzaga and the
possible heir apparent once Mark Few retired. It just seems like it is a matter
of time before he reaches the Final Four. I will say, though, I said that about
Sean Miller a number of times, so we’ll see.
2. Eric Musselman, USC (221-93, six NCAA Tournament
appearances, two Sweet 16s, two Elite 8s)
Musselman moves up to No. 2 on this list after Matt Painter
took his Boilermakers to a tournament title game appearance. After a successful
stint in Fayetteville, he packed up and moved to the west coast and a move
to……the Big Ten. His Razorbacks had a down year last year, going just 16-17 in
2023-24 and missed the NCAA Tournament. In the last two years, he has finished
11th and 9th in the SEC, but still led his team to the Sweet 16 in 2023. But
prior to that, he led Arkansas to back-to-back Elite 8 performances. Before
landing in Fayetteville, he turned around a Nevada program that posted just
nine wins in the season prior to his arrival. In his first season there, he led
Nevada to a 15-win increase in 2015-16 and a CBI championship. In his next
three seasons, he led them to three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and
a berth in the Sweet 16 in 2018. Being at USC, he should have a lot of
resources to be able to push USC to a possible Final Four berth in the coming
years.
1. Sean Miller, Xavier (465-184, 12 NCAA Tournament
appearances, five Sweet 16s, four Elite 8s)
Sean Miller is back on top, and likely will be until he
either loses his job or makes the Final Four. It is long overdue. From 2017-20,
Sean Miller took home the top spot on this list before being let go by Arizona.
After being hired by Xavier once again, he is back on top in this unfortunate
list. Before being fired by Arizona, he was a monster there, going 302-109 in
12 seasons, winning at least 30 games four times. He led the Wildcats to the
Elite 8 on four occasions. Arguably his two best teams ran into Frank Kaminsky
in both 2014 and 2015. It seems like it is just a matter of time, but it is
tougher to make the Final Four at Xavier than at a power school like Arizona.
Before being relegated to the NIT this past year, he led the Musketeers to a
Sweet 16 appearance as a No. 3 seed in 2023. At some point he has to make it to
the Final Four, right?
